Czech climber Adam Ondra climbing El Capitán in Yosemite National Park : mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world

Usually climbers who do lead climbing have a lot of experience indoors and on safer routes before moving onto ones like "El Capitan", so their reflexes are properly trained.

Also a lot of the impact is absorbed by the belayer and by your feet. The way your center of mass is situated and the fact that you're almost always facing the wall helps guide you feet first. There is a limited distance between the points where you clip in, so the distance isn't too big.

The only injury I ever got while lead roping* is a strained finger, so its not as dangerous as it seems If you have proper training and user the proper equipment.

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[–] Pnut@lemm.ee 35 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm actually glad for that. I thought he was free climbing and it made me nervous.

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[–] CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

He is free climbing. He’s not using things like a ladder to climb.

He’s not free soloing, which is done without a rope.

There’s also rope soloing where you use a rope but you don’t have a belayer and have to catch yourself on falls.

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[–] vxx@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

I think the only climber that did it free solo is Alex Honnold. He took a less deadly route I believe. The documentation is fear inducing though.

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[–] realitista@lemm.ee 31 points 1 year ago

Thank Jebus he has a rope. Original picture made me feel bad and nervous.

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[–] jqubed@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

Ah, thank you

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[–] fitjazz@lemmynsfw.com 12 points 1 year ago

When I first looked at the OP I thought someone had photoshopped out the rope and quick draw and was mad at them. Then I looked more closely and saw that it was just shitty quality and they blended in really well.

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[–] circledot@feddit.org 10 points 1 year ago

But still 😵‍💫

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[–] ABC123itsEASY@lemmy.world 97 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)

Fyi Adam is free climbing here but not free soloing; there's a big difference. The rope in this photo has either been edited out or is hard to see. Free climbing means climbing without aid, like ladders or ascenders attached to the rope. If youve climed at your local gym, you have free climed.

Edit: it's just hard to see but it's there. It's yellow and coming down beneath him.

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[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 24 points 1 year ago (1 child)

Yeah what we see here is called "trad climbing" and specifically it seems like he's lead climbing here (first one up and putting in the rope as he goes along).

Adam is a fucking beast btw for those that don't know him he's one of the best in the world.

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[–] ABC123itsEASY@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago* (7 children)

Nah; it's actually sport climbing, not trad. You can see in the higher definition photo that he's got a quick draw attached to a bolt below him. Trad (traditional) climbing means climbing without prebolted routes where you place pro(tection) as you climb, like cams, nuts and hexes to name a few. If he were climbing trad, you would see a bunch of pro hanging off his belt because he'd need to place it as he climbs. Also pretty sure there's not even enough going on on the dawn wall to climb trad which is why it's generally looked down upon to bolt a wall if pro can be placed. Trad climbing the same wall would be much harder than sport climbing the same wall because placing pro is so more more involved than placing a quickdraw. Also you have to carry it up. Also if you place pro incorrectly and you fall you can die. Sport climbing in practice is much safer.

To clarify further, the quickdraws are already placed for him. This is likely because the dawn wall is just that hard that you really don't have a chance if you have to spend the energy placing quickdraws as you climb.

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[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)

Oooooh right you're right trad is placing the anchors etc yourself, I'm still learning. So is this still lead climbing (while being sport climbing) since he's going up with the rope?

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[–] Zugyuk@lemmy.world 56 points 1 year ago (1 child)

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[–] Wiz@midwest.social 8 points 1 year ago

I though this was the "Mildly terrifying" forum for a sec.

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[–] SassyRamen@lemmy.world 40 points 1 year ago (6 children)

A what point does it change from unique hobby to death wish?

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[–] moody@lemmings.world 26 points 1 year ago

It's hard to see from the shrunken picture, but he has a rope to catch him if he falls. The likelihood of an injury is very low.

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[–] shoo@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (4 children)

https://brainasap.com/adrenaline-addiction-rock-climbers-thrill-seeking-behavior/

I'm all for letting people have the hobbies they want, but adrenaline junkies are literally wired differently. Kind of weird that they get put on a pedestal for being the "right" kind of neurodivergent.

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[–] gazter@aussie.zone 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)

I don't think any of the climbers I know would call it an adrenaline sport. It's slow, considered, thoughtful. It certainly gets a high sometimes, pun intended, but it's much more akin to a runners high or the elation of finishing a difficult task well.

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[–] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

When you stop caring about safety.

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[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 year ago

A what point does it change from unique hobby to death wish?

100% when you remove the safety gear.

The mountain, you see, is in nature; and Nature doesn't give a fuck about your inability to fly once you pop off that flake.

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[–] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

When the likelihood of death is knowingly greater than the safety precautions taken to avoid death.

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[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago (1 child)

“Good morning, Captain.”

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[–] superkret@feddit.org 31 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This is a lot less impressive when you rotate the image to the right.

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[–] mienshao@lemm.ee 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I will never ever ever be impressed by this shit. All I see is a very stupid person taking an unnecessary risk for clout.

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[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago (1 child)

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[–] MissJinx@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (1 child)

I watched a video about a person with a rare condition that makes him not have a fear response and now, everytime I see people doing stupid shit like this, I think "bet it's not so fucking rare"

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[–] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Don't be do quick to judge: He's secured by a rope that passes through a series of bolts that are drilled into solid granite. You could lift a car with the gear he's using to secure himself.

You're less in control of your fate when passing someone on the highway than he is here. The only way he dies in this situation is first slipping off (first layer of protection is your hands and feet), and then having several layers of ridiculously redundant protection fail.

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[–] CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al 13 points 1 year ago

Rope or not this is terrifying! It's a no from me

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[–] hanke@feddit.nu 11 points 1 year ago (1 child)